


Shining stars on Luna Nova

by ElviraSensei



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, Fantasy, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25934557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElviraSensei/pseuds/ElviraSensei
Summary: This fiction occurs before the setting of the anime, when Chariot du Nord was still a student at Luna Nova. This is the story of her first encounter with Croix and how she fell in love with her at first sight.
Relationships: Ursula Callistis | Chariot du Nord/Croix Meridies
Kudos: 4





	1. Beautiful stranger

##  Chapter 1: Beautiful Stranger

Spring had returned, offering the students of Luna Nova a new school year. Chariot du Nord was walking on the path looking at the trees, admiring their rebirth after that long cold and snowy winter. Some buds had already popped up on their branches and Cherry trees were blooming. The thin pink petals were flying all around her each time the wind blew. With her messy hair, she could bet she would bring a lot of them to class. She did not mind, she loved that season and cherry trees alleys were her favourite. So if she could carry a little bit of the beauty with her that would be just heart-warming. It was a warm and sunny day, the sky was deep blue without clouds. Ay, if only she could have spent the whole day outside instead of going to class. Alas, this was out of the question anyway. And her joyful mood turned a little gloomy while thinking of all the boring classes that were awaiting her. Especially the potion class; she was so bad at it that her teacher kept scolding her. She could be considered a danger since she had already provoked minor explosions.

Lost in her thoughts, not looking where she was walking, she suddenly stumbled on a root and fell heavily on the ground.

“Are you OK?” a voice asked behind her. Chariot turned her head in the direction of the voice and saw a girl about the same age gazing in her direction with a worried look on her face. Chariot felt embarrassed of the situation and laughed nervously.

“Yeah, it happens to me all the time” She immediately regretted to have said that, she should have looked dumb. The girl, however, did not laugh at her but inclined her head and observed Chariot’s knees.

“You hurt yourself, I might have something for you.” She fumbled in her bag and took out a bottle of water, a handkerchief, a patch and a tiny spray.

“wow! You are well organized” Chariot observed with admiration

“You never know what might happen”

While the girl was cleaning and disinfecting the scrapes, Chariot was glaring at her. She was taller than her, quite thin with nice figures. Her hair was long curly lavender and smelt of lilac, her big droopy green eyes were hiding behind glasses. Her moves were soft and precise. Her low voice matched perfectly with her maturity.

“There, it’s done!” She offered her hand to help Chariot standing up. When she held it, Chariot felt a sudden flash in her chest, her ruby eyes met the jade ones and she gasped.

“does it hurt?” asked the unknown girl

“N... no, I’m alright, really...” she babbled

“Ok, Have a nice day then.” The girl was about to leave when Chariot called her

“Wait.... Thank you.” She said blushing

“It’s ok. Goodbye” And the beautiful stranger turned heels and walked in haste. Chariot was startled, she was wondering why her heart was fluttering that way. She could not get her eyes off of the silhouette disappearing afar.

v

The first period was about to start, all the students of the class 2 –B were chatting in small groups except Chariot. Usually she would be the one animating the class with her transformation skills, but today she was sitting at her desk, spacing out and looking through the window. She could not help thinking of this fortunate morning encounter and regretted not to have even asked for her name. She sighed heavily. When the whole class stood in a military manner, she understood that her homeroom teacher had entered and she had better done the same.

“Sit down.” Ms Anne Finnelan ordered firmly. “Today, I would like to introduce a transfer student, would you please come in?” Everybody was looking curiously towards the door when a lavender-haired girl came in with assertiveness.

“Good Morning, my name is Croix Meridies. I have been studying at Edwards Academy until last year. I want to develop my skills in traditional Magic; that is why I enrolled Luna Nova. I am glad to meet you.”

“Ms Meridies, there is a seat available in the back of the second rank. This will be your desk for this semester.”

“Thank you Professor Finnelan”

Chariot dropped jaws when she recognized the beautiful stranger. Her eyes were wide open and her look observed each part of the transfer student to make sure she was not hallucinating

Croix sat at her desk without giving a glance to Chariot. She was two seats above her on the first rank on her right. Chariot could not focus on anything else than the newcomer. Her heart had started pounding again at her sight. She decided that she would properly introduce herself at the break but the students sitting around her monopolized her and she could not even approach her. The situation repeated itself after the second period. She would get her chance before the potion class since they had to change room to go to the labs. But once again, the class representatives and a bunch of noisy girls surrounded her, harassing her with questions. Croix politely answered but seemed annoyed by the situation.

They reached the lab and in groups of three they started working on a healing potion.

“Dear students, follow the recipe in the correct order. You were supposed to find the ingredients let’s see what you have here. You will be marked on the quality of your components.” The teacher analysed meticulously each ingredient before authorising the manipulation. If one ingredient was missing or not correct, the students would lose marks but would be authorized to use the lab materials. Croix was not belonging to a group for the lesson so the teacher authorized her to use the ingredients of the laboratory. She started on her own to melt raven blood, with oil and salt, then she added weeds from the enchanted swamp, a slice of cherry wood, a dose of wise person ashes and two litres of water from the same swamp. She heated the potion and mixed it all for the next two hours.

In the meantime Chariot and her team were having a hard time. They had not been able find the correct ashes so they had burnt a piece of wood and brought the remains to class. The teacher, who had a huge nose, immediately recognized the smell and yelled at the girls.

All the attention was focused on the trio and Chariot met Croix’s look. She would have liked to vanish in an instant, shame invading her. She gulped and obeyed the teacher who had told her to fetch the correct ingredients. She was looking at the jars but the ink had faded and it was hard to read the name. She finally took something looking like ashes from the shelf and brought it back to her team. They could start the manipulation with relief. But when Chariot heated the mixture, a terrible smell came out of her caldron. This was so awful that the teacher asked the students to evacuate the class for a moment. She used a magic spell to return the potion to something decent and opened all the windows with a single move of her wand. A whirlwind twirled above the caldrons and the teacher pushed it in the direction of the windows. The atmosphere became breathable again.

The teacher called Chariot and scolded her once more in front of the class. She was looking at her feet, shaking and feeling nauseous. She could not help imagining how Croix would be despising her and this thought made her even more desperate.

“You should ask for tutoring, it is unthinkable for a second-year student to be so careless! But I am not sure any of the students here would like to teach you.”

“I will!” the low assertive voice came from the back of the class. Chariot once again felt that flash shooting through her heart. That voice was the one she had heard this morning. Croix was standing for her. She could not believe it, nor could the other students. Even if Chariot was popular among her peers, everybody knew that teaching her potions was hopeless. Only a newcomer could take the risk.

Chariot was all flustered and muttered a “thank you” in Croix’s direction before looking back at her feet and joining her group.

v

After classes, the students were either joining their clubs or went to the library to make research. Chariot was collecting her books and notes when Croix walked in her direction.

“Let’s go to the lab.”

“Wh... now?”

“Of course now; you need practice. Don’t worry I’ll be there to help you. The teacher told me that we could use all the ingredients in the lab as long as we wrote in the registry exactly what we had used.”

“Aren’t you scared that I blow up the lab?”

“It’s going to be alright, I’ll be there and I have always been the ace of my class in Potions.”

“huuh, How much did you get this afternoon?”

“100/100, as usual; I used to teach my classmates. I was the professor’s assistant at Edwards. So I am not scared teaching you, even if you screwed up this afternoon.” Chariot gritted her teeth at the last comment.

They walked to the lab and Croix opened her tablet. Chariot opened her eyes, she was not used to this modern device, especially in school. Of course she had a mobile phone but it was forbidden to use it at Luna Nova.

“Wow, does the Head know that you are using this device here?”

“I am a modern woman, I believe in technology. I am sure that we can mix the benefits of traditional Magic with new technologies.”

“Well, don’t claim that too loud, Luna Nova is very conservative you know, you’d better hide this.”

“Nobody will see us here, and all my notes and books are recorded on the hard drive. Look, this is my favourite book of potions. Select one recipe from the first chapter.”

Chariot browsed the pages by flipping her finger on the screen and selected “enhanced speed potion” Croix sat beside her and started explaining the importance of the choice of the ingredients. Chariot was feeling the heat of her body and had difficulties focusing on the lesson. She wanted to touch her but did not dare. Croix was passionate when it came to science and without thinking she put her hand on Chariot’s thigh, the latter letting escape a gasp of surprise. Croix did not expect that reaction and looked a little embarrassed. She wiped her glasses to try to appear composed.

“Now, find what you need to prepare the mixture and write this down here.” Chariot was climbing on the ladders, reading each pot, each jar until she found the components

“Very well, now I will show you the importance of the moves. Potions are not just adding elements together, there is a way to do this, let me hold your wrist.”

“heee?” Chariot was destabilized; never a teacher had talked about the importance of the moves, even less had physically guided her to make a potion. Croix stood behind her and leaned on her, her arm following the shape of Chariot’s.

“You are so tense, relax. I want to see this wrist become lax. Come on!”

“So...Sorry. Hem huH... li...like this?”

“yes, let’s mime it before...” and like a choreography, Croix guided her partner with her natural elegance. “Up and down, up and down, softly, softer, yes, like this, go on, don’t stop. Without me now.” Croix released Chariots wrists but remained clung on her, her hands on her shoulders. Chariot could feel her breath on her neck and started being nervous again. Croix caught immediately her hand and led her once again. Then she stepped back and observed her student.

“Now with the elements, don’t be scared, you’ve rehearse the move enough.” And Chariot repeated the hand choreography with the ingredients this time.

“Good now, you just need to heat it up. 100 degrees, no more ;for two hours. Yes done! So I will go to the library and come back in two hours. Don’t make a mess!” Croix winked at her while Chariot had opened her mouth to protest.

“Croix! You are not going to leave me like that, are you?”

“there’s nothing more to do than to check. I’ll leave you my tablet if you want to read more about potions.” And she left without listening to her classmate.

v

There was nothing else to do so Chariot decided to follow Croix’s advice. She browsed the book and found a chapter concerning emotions. “Love Filter”. She suddenly thought that could be something fun to create. The image of Croix invaded her; she was totally under her spell. Her heart started bouncing again at the remembrance of her embrace while guiding her. How hard it had been to remain focused while her entire self wanted to hold her back. She started dreaming of the moment she had felt her breath in the neck and had longed for a kiss. There was no doubt, she had fallen for that newcomer, and it was love at first sight.

“Maybe if I could make that potion, she would feel the same.” She was thinking aloud with a cunning smile on her face. She looked carefully at the recipe; it was quite simple with few ingredients, maybe the teacher would not even remark she had taken a little more. The heating time was short as well, forty-five minutes.

“come on Chariot, let’s go!” she started rushing all over the lab, found easily the ingredients and started to place them before a second caldron. She repeated the moves several times before starting the mixture.

“Ok, we’re ready, let’s heat it... 120 degrees. The timer is here, Go!” Chariot was going from one caldron to the other, from time to time, giving a little twirl with the spoon. She was looking anxiously at the door; she had suddenly thought that Croix could come back earlier.

But the first timer rang. She used a pipette to transfer the liquid in a tube she hid in her bag. She washed the caldron, hid all the materials she had used and cleaned the bench. Everything was tidied up as if she had never used anything else.

v

Five minutes before the end of the timer, Croix came back to the lab. Chariot was pretending to be focused on her caldron. Croix took her tablet and consulted the history of the pages visited. She realised that Chariot had spent more than an hour on the Love filter page. She smirked and put the tablet on the table. The timer rang.

“Ok, then turn off the gaz. Take a pipette and the tube rake. Fill in the tubes. Now your potion is ready.”

“wow, I have destroyed nothing today.”

“Let’s test it!”

“Oh.... shall I drink it?”

“Are you crazy? Never use it on yourself first, test it on a mouse.”

“A mouse? Do you want me to turn into a mouse, this is one of my specialties!”

“Baka! No way! We are in a lab, I suppose there are mice for your biology lessons.”

“hem, I have never worked on them personally, I am against animal testing!”

“Well, my dear, when you are a scientist, you have no choice if you want to make research.”

“I am sure there are plenty of other ways to test especially with your new technologies.”

“There are but not for everything, not yet. I am working on it on my spare time. Well in the meantime, let’s find a mouse”

“The Professors lab is over there but we cannot.... hey how did you open that door?”

“New technologies... no I’m joking, the door was unlocked.” Croix sneaked in the lab and found a second room with hundreds of mice in cages. She opened a cage and stole a mouse.

“Croix!!!! If we are caught we might be expelled!”

“Tsk, there are almost a thousand mice over here; they will not make the difference. Ok now take a pipette and give the potion to that little buddy.”

Chariot executed the move, her hand was shaking. A drop fell in the mouse’s throat. Suddenly it escaped from Croix’s hands and rushed like a rocket all around the lab!

“It worked! It actually worked!!!!” Chariot was ecstatic. Croix was observing carefully the little living being when it abruptly stopped and fell on its flanks. Chariot wondered what was going on. Croix took the little mouse listened to its heart.

“It’s over, she’s dead.”

“WHHHHHHHAAAAATTTTT????” Chariots eyes started filling up with tears

Croix put the mouse on the bench and rushed to Chariot and took her in her arms

“There, there” She patted her head while pressing her against her body.

“I killed her, I killed her....”

“We did, and I am responsible.”

“How did that happen, I followed strictly the recipe, you followed me, why? Why?” she said crying.

“Because there was one last step that you neglected, it’s the amount of product compared to the size and weight of the user. Even a drop for that little being was too strong, she had a heart attack. Do you understand now why I forbade you to use it on yourself? Your potion is a success, for a Human being, but you need to calculate accurately the dose before using it.”

“You knew and you let me do it!” She yelled.

“I know this is cruel, but with this shock you will not play with potions anymore. Now give me that love filter and let me destroy it before you kill someone.”

“HEEEEEEEEE??????” she stopped crying all of a sudden and quickly wiped her eyes.

“I know everything dear, erase the history of my tablet if you do not want me to find out. Who did you want to use it on?”

Chariot was startled and could not articulate a word, she was all flustered.

“Hey, relax, I won’t tell anybody. You shouldn’t need a love potion, you are just adorable as you are.”

“Stop mocking me.”

“I am not, Chariot du Nord. I like you. When you fell this morning, I immediately fell...for you. There was something disarming in you that attracted me.”

“You are making fun of me, how could you fall for somebody so clumsy, useless... and a mouse killer!”

Croix burst out laughing.

“You see, that’s exactly why I have fallen in love with you. You are real, Chariot, sincere, and super cute.”

“huh? You think I am cute?”

“yes, indeed!”

“well, to be honest, I think you are hot and I kept thinking about you all day.”

Chariot tightened her embrace.

“Why do you think I offered tutoring. I wanted to be with you.”

“So why did you leave me for two hours?” Chariot whined.

“I am taking my tutoring seriously; this was part of the lesson. I had let my tablet on purpose, knowing that you would have tried something. I did not expect the love potion. Well, wait... You intended to try it on ... ME?”

“Huh em... yes.” Chariot answered with a little voice hiding her face in Croix’s shoulder.

“BAKA!” Croix lift Chariot chin and kissed her lips. Chariot blushed at first but kissed her back. they held each other, their hands rubbing softly one another’s back. The kiss became more intense, Croix bit from time to times Chariots inferior’s lip. Their tongues were dancing and playing hide and seek. Both of their hearts were racing and desire growing.

“Let’s go to my room, I have no roommate.”

“Me neither... maybe we could ask the administration to be together”

“It would be fantastic”

Chariot this time was the one to kiss Croix first with all her passion. She then held her hand and led her to her room.


	2. the love birds of Luna Nova

##  Chapter 2: The love birds of Luna Nova

v

The night had fallen on Luna Nova, Chariot was lying on her bed next to her partner who was caressing her hair and looking into her ruby eyes. Chariot was still blushing just thinking of what had just happened between them.

“Ney, Croix, that was not your first time, was it?” She asked timidly.

“Was it yours?” Asked the lavender-haired girl suddenly startled.

Chariot suddenly flustered and looked aside.

“ye.. yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? You seemed so sure of yourself when you dragged me to your room that I thought … Oh dear I’m sorry, I…”

“Shhh… don’t say sorry when you made me so happy. I never imagined that it would go that far … but… when you started undressing me it all seemed so natural that I let you … do it.”

“Oh my sweetheart, I could have been more gentle, have taken more my time. Are you sure you are ok?”

“I promise! “

Croix held her tighter in her arms and kissed her forefront. She was still feeling bad not to have asked before. It was true that Chariot’s passionate kisses and caresses did not look like the ones of a virgin.

“You are quite experienced, aren’t you?”

Croix blushed a little and said shyly.

“Well I had a boy friend two years ago and a girlfriend last year. That’s not much of experience”

“A boy?”

“Why? Are you shocked? I fall for people not for a specific gender. He was my sempai, a very gifted boy in any field, Magic of course, but also IT and Sciences. I asked him to tutor me for IT and programming. Spending time together we discovered each other, I admired him and he liked the fact that I was quite advanced and skilled for my age. So one day our relation Sempai/ Kohai turned into something more romantic and later more… intimate.”

“I see. What happened?”

“Life; he transferred to another school in another city and we progressively lost contact. That was sad but I handled it. I then met a girl at the library. I always sat at the same place and so did she. One day she asked me about my readings. She was a nice girl, very attractive and quite racy. I liked that trait of her personality. She asked me out, at the end of our first date, she kissed me. I was attracted to her as well, so we became lovers. I was quite fond of her and she was terrific in bed. Sorry I should not say that.” Chariot nodded and encouraged her to go further. “But she was free as a bird and one day, I came earlier to school and surprised her wall pinning a freshman student. I was so shocked I could not say a word. She was kissing her furiously. That’s how it ended, I stopped returning her phone calls and we changed spots at the library to make sure not to bump into each other. I avoided her for weeks until one day when she caught me at the school gate. We had a terrible fight, I told her that I could not bear her unfaithfulness, she said “I am not gonna change for you” and that was it.”

“Gosh, that must have been hard.”

“Well, less than what it would have been if we had parted normally because of my transfer at Luna Nova. In a way, I was so mad at her that it disgusted me. I was over her much faster.”

“Yeah, but still…” said the red-haired pensively.

“And you, tell me a little bit about your past stories.”

“Me? … I fell once for a woman, she was around 28, long brown hair, green eyes, very smart and a great magician.

“Wow, 28! What happened?”

“Nothing, it was one sided… she was a teacher.”

“Here?”

“No…huh … at the elementary school I was 9”

Croix started laughing very loudly and Chariot made desperate moves to hush her. She was scared that somebody discovered her in her room after the curfew. Some students were assigned night patrols to avoid these kinds of situations.

“Stop! Hush now!” But Croix could not help laughing and was rolling on the bed. Chariot, infuriated, jumped on her, held her wrists and kissed her vigorously. That move surprised Croix so much that she stopped laughing at once and returned her kiss with the same intensity.

Early in the morning, Croix had sneaked out of Chariot’s room to reach hers. She headed to the bathroom and after a hot shower, she took her new uniform that had been delivered in the evening and put it on. She looked at herself in the mirror and observed the new Luna Nova’s student. This old fashioned uniform was closer to a cosplay costume than the regular school uniforms to which she was used. But she liked it anyway. She got out of her room and bowed to the other students she met in the corridor, she stopped by Chariot’s room to see if she was ready. To her surprise, she found her lover still in bed, with the alarm clock on the floor.

“Chariot! Get out of bed immediately.”

“Mmmm? Five more minutes please”

“It’s half past eight, I was about to pick you up for breakfast!”

“whhhhhaaaaaattt?” she screamed sitting suddenly in her bed.

“You are going to…” but Croix could not finish her sentence, she was almost shoved by the rushing girl. She got out of bed as a jack in the box, ran to the bathroom. Croix observed her, amazed; it was as if she had four arms, pouring shampoo on her head while brushing her teeth with her left hand. Croix started laughing; that clumsy girl could somehow be quite dexterous when in panic. She handed her the towel and her uniform but had no idea where to find her underwear. Chariot ran out of the bathroom with the towel around her body, jumped on her bed to go faster and rushed to the drawer where her lingerie was hidden. Croix received the towel on the head while Chariot was putting on her panties and bra. She grabbed the uniform Croix was still holding and in a few seconds she was dressed.

“Wow, have you ever thought of creating a quick change act in a circus or a cabaret, you did not even use magic.”

“He, he, it’s a matter of training.” Chariot said with a cunning smile. “8.40, we’ve got plenty of time for breakfast.”

“Heee? Ain’t you gonna dry your hair?”

“I never do that”

“That’s why…”

“why what?”

“Nothing” Croix understood then why Chariot’s hair looked so messy with rebel braids.

Their first class was biology. The teacher asked the students to pair up for the exercise. They had to observe regurgitated bird pellets, dissect them and note what they had found in. Chariot was not at ease with the scalpel and Croix put her hand on hers to guide her. Chariot instantly blushed to the point her teacher got worried.

“Is there anything wrong Ms Du Nord?”

“Not at all, she’s doing just fine. If you want to take a look Ms Clark…” Croix answered as she wanted to avoid her partner to feel more embarrassed.

“Let’s see. Oh that’s very good. Go on like this. Good job.” And the teacher patted gently her student humid head; the sensation surprised her and she made such a face that Croix chuckled discreetly.

At the end of the class, they walked together in the corridor. Chariot felt the urge to grab her arm but Croix rejected her. She asked her to be more careful and not drive attention on them. They spent the next classes in their usual classroom. Chariot could not focus, the images of the night spent with Croix kept invading her mind. She could not wait for lunch break to be close to her beloved again.

But, when the bell rang, she did not have time to make a step towards her lover that the latter was surrounded by five or six girls of the class dragging the transfer student to share lunch with them. Croix sent a desperate look in Chariot’s direction but she also was taken in hostage by a bunch of fans. Some girls loved her magic tricks so much that they asked her as often as possible to play some for them.

Croix had already disappeared so that left Chariot with no other option. She used her wand and pronounced a magic spell. Golden glitters formed shapes above them and transformed into various animals. An antelope was hopping around the classroom when suddenly a lion rushed after it and a fantastic race of glitters marvelled the students for the whole lunch break. Croix got back into the class at the precise moment when the lion made a jump to reach the antelope but missed it. The antelope then transformed into a dragon and spat fire of glitters to erase the whole scene. Chariot was burning with an inner fire, moving her arms harmoniously as a conductor would do to lead their orchestra. Croix felt a strong emotion to see her lover so skilled and with such a poetry in her Magic. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel it even more since she had joined her hands on it in admiration.

Chariot ended with fireworks of glitters and everybody applauded, even the Homeroom teacher who had just entered the class.

“If only you were as gifted in maths as in illusion spells Ms Du Nord…but congrats anyway that was beautiful.”

Chariot bowed and went back to her seat. She had not had time to eat with all that. She often used illusion as a pastime and lost track of time while practicing. Her stomach growled loudly while they were trying to solve a problem. Croix discreetly sent her a candy bar to calm her until the next break.

When the bell rang, Chariot opened her lunch bag and took a big bite of her club sandwich. That was the precise moment when Croix came to see her at her desk. Chariot with her mouth full like the one of a hamster was all but glamorous. Croix laughed at the vision and took the napkin to brush softly the corner of her lips. Chariot, red as a beet, almost choked and Croix tapped her back to help her. She handed her a bottle of water. Chariot drank a few sips and felt better.

“I just wanted to tell you that I loved your show; that was stupendous and very inspiring.” Croix said keeping her composure while the goofy girl in front of her amused her so much.

“Really, you liked it, that was just improvisation” she said blushing even more.

“Imagine with a real structure, a real story what we could do!”

“We?” Interrogated Chariot.

“Ahem, I mean… you.” This time Croix was blushing too. They were soon interrupted by the class representative.

“Hurry up, it’s PE class now. Ms Meridies have you received you track suit and trainer shoes?

“Yes, I found everything in my room this mor… yesterday. I put them in the locker.”

“Good, see you then.” The class representative did not remark when Croix’s tongue twisted, that was a relief.

All the girls changed rapidly and gathered on the track field. The first exercise was to test their endurance. The teacher asked them to run nonstop for 20 minutes. Chariot was fit and good at sports in general. She started rather slowly to follow Croix but her pace did not match hers, so after a lap she found her own speed and ran faster. After 15 minutes, she had taken a lap and a half to her lover. Croix really seemed to suffer and was out of breath. Chariot accelerated a little bit more to make sure to be with her for the last lap. When she reached her she took her hand and looked into her eyes with a smile that gave wings to Croix. She followed her, forgetting about her painful ankle and her burning lungs. She could only see red hair gleaming in front of her and the perfect balance of her moves and pace even though she was tugging her. The whistle marked the end of the race and the girls slowed down until they stopped completely. Croix let herself fall on the ground, breathing heavily. Chariot brought her some water and helped her get up. That was only the beginning. The teacher had planned to work on sprint and hurdles. Croix became white as a sheet when she heard about the programme but Chariot murmured at her ear that everything would be alright. In reality, it wasn’t alright, not at all. Croix never knew when to jump and either the front foot or the back one hit the hurdles. The last one even made her fall since the instep hurt violently the top of the hurdle making the poor girl lose balance and receive the demonic obstacle on her ankle. Chariot rushed in her direction as fast as the teacher. He observed the student and was anxious about the ankle; Croix was already wearing a strap on it.

“Ms Du Nord, could you take her to the nurse, I will just use the iced spray to ease the pain. You can use my broom if you want.”

“yes sir.”

Croix leaned on Chariot shoulders and hopped up to the teacher’s broom. Chariot placed it in position and sat her friend on it. She then rode it and took off with dexterity. She was the ace of the class at flying brooms; she had even won races and that was why the teacher entrusted her with his.

When they were out of sight, Croix embraced her beloved friend and kissed her neck.

“Wow! Do not distract the driver!” said Chariot joyfully.

“My hero” she said joking

“Are you ok?”

“It’s nothing; really, I just wanted to skip the end of class.”

“What?”

“But it’s true that I have a weak ankle so having it checked won’t be a waste of time.”

They got to the nursery and she confirmed that nothing was broken. She only had a bad bruise. She advised her not to run in the next week and to visit again before the next PE class.

The two girls got out of the nursery, Chariot proposed to take her classmate on her back. Croix was a bit embarrassed but eventually accepted; she had to admit that it was fun.

“I need to return the broom to the teacher. Shall I let you in your room in the meantime?”

“Yeah fine”

“Oh I’ve got an idea. When I return, we should use the spa, there is a huge hot bath and Jacuzzis.”

“Seriously? A spa in the school?”

“Didn’t you know. The counterpart is that we sometimes have to clean it ourselves during the cleaning duties. And it’s often one of the punishments when students misbehave.”

“But there’s a spa in the school! Well I shall have a short shower right now, I feel dirty after sports.”

“Yeah me too. We should use the spa tonight before the curfew.”

“Isn’t it too crowded?”

“Well, normally it gets crowded after class before dinner. After dinner, students like to gather in the common rooms and play games, watch TV, or play music. Sometimes the Drama club organises improvisation nights it’s very popular.”

“So let’s go after dinner.”

In the evening the girls of the class rushed towards Croix to see if she was ok. They all shared sweets and chocolates with her. Chariot felt a little bit jealous but her heart was fluttering at the idea to share a bath with her lover. The students tried to convince Croix to play cards with them but she declined politely pretending to be tired. She got out of the room followed from afar by Chariot. When Croix turned in the corridor and was not visible anymore by her classmates, Chariot hasted her pace to join her. She clung to her arm and kissed her lover on the cheek.

“Chariot! I told you to be careful!”

“There’s no one around. And it was just a sisterly kiss; nothing to be blamed for.”

“No matter, keep a distance in common spaces.”

“And what about the SPA? It’s a common space.”

“We will see if we can anticipate people coming.”

“Oh yeah, showers are compulsory before entering the pool or the Jacuzzi, we will hear the noise if someone gets there it’s a small room just before the baths.”

“Ok, but let’s remain careful”

“Here we are, follow me.”

A big wooden door was standing before them; a bronze sign indicated “BATHS”. Chariot opened the door and they entered a big hall decorated in an oriental style. Blue and yellow mosaics covered the walls. Steamed window panels separated the different rooms. On the left were the mattresses to relax or be massaged. On the right, the lockers room with the showers, In front the baths with the main pool surrounded by several Jacuzzis. From the entrance only a small part of the Baths was visible through a window.

The girls entered the lockers room, nobody was there as expected. The employees had left at 7.30, leaving free access to the baths up to 10 p.m. It was 8.30 and the girls could fully enjoy the place without having to hide. Croix started undressing when she felt a hand caressing her back.

“Sombody’s rather impatient?”

“Hum; maybe.” Chariot held Croix by the waist and kissed the back of her neck. Croix flipped and took the red head between her palms and kissed her. They took off their clothes hastily and still kissing headed to the showers. The hot water falling on their bodies could not stop their embrace. Chariot took Croix’s hand and led her to the main bath.

The place was stupendous. Not only the Arabic style looking like a hammam of the 1001 nights, but also the view. The Spa was situated on the last floor of the newest building at the top of the hill and huge windows opened on a stunning view of the town afar and of the forest around. The moon beamed and was at times partially covered by clouds. Its rays were drawing moving shapes on them, changing rapidly with the slight wind blowing outside.

Chariot dropped her towel and plunged into the big pool, inviting Croix to follow her. Croix let the towel on the hot stones and slipped her body in the steamy water.

“This feels like paradise. I could not imagine something more fairy-like”

“Oh, Don’t move.” Chariot gave a short kiss on the lips of her partner before going out of water and heading to the lockers. Croix was wondering what she was doing and suddenly she heard a spell that she knew well.

A fire of pink sparkles erupted around the main pool. Croix jumped in surprise but soon was fascinated. Her lover was dancing and jumping all around with her wand in the hand to lead the different geysers of glitters. She changed their colours, pink, viola, blue, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, or red… She looked at her partner with a much focused gaze and she reproduced her traits with glitters above them as if she were painting her portrait. Croix was astonished, and even more when the portrait animated itself and winked. Chariot jumped into the water and added her auto-portrait; she moved her arms with great swings and the representations faced each other. Chariot clapped her hand together and the two faces kissed. Croix clapped vigorously, smiling with admiration. Chariot pronounced another enchantment and maintained the sparkling fountains without using her wand. She then swam to join her lover who welcomed her with passionate kisses.

“You are a magician. A real one. There is a lot of potential with such a talent.”

“He he he. That’s just entertainment.” Said Chariot with her hand behind her head laughing nervously.

“No, it could be something huge. You could promote Magic all over the world with big shows.”

“I remind you that we need the power of the stone.”

“Tsk, I am sure that with technology, there are means to transport its energy.”

“That seems complicated.”

“But not impossible, believe me. I will find a way.”

“My mad scientist” Chariot had sat on Croix’s laps to kiss her. She took back her wand and pronounced a last formula and epic music sounded. That last touch of perfection was going to lead them to a terrible fate.

The noise attracted the attention of two teachers who had had the same idea as the girls. Ms Clark and Ms O’Shaughnessy wanted to take a hot bath in the Jacuzzi before going to bed. The music they heard was not familiar and they rushed in to see what was happening. When they entered the room the music was very loud and the baths were sparkling with different colours.

Ms Clark got in the lockers room and, still dressed, crossed the showers to see what was going on, followed by her colleague. The room was fantastically beautiful with the geysers of sparkles and it was hard to identify where it came from. Suddenly, Ms Clark recognized the red head she had patted in the morning. Croix was not visible hidden by the body of her lover who was still kissing her.

“Ms CHARIOT DU NORD!” Chariot jumped and turned in the direction of the voice, uncovering the body of her lover. All the Magic ceased instantly. “AND MS CROIX MERIDIES!” the two girls plunged underwater with panic and shame.

“GET OUT OF HERE!”Ms Clark yelled.

The two girls grabbed their towels, covered themselves in and walked with the head down towards the teachers.

“What were you doing here?” asked Ms O’Shaughnessy.

“It’s just me, I wanted to show off and I got carried away with my Magic”

“And your lips were carried away as well? And YOU, a newcomer, getting involved in such inappropriate situation. Are you aware that sex intercourses are not allowed at school?”

“We were not having sex Ms O’Shaughnessy if I may. We are both virgins and were just training on kissing. That was just … practice.” said Croix with a cold and assertive tone.

“Are you trying to fool me? Practice? Is it like that you tutor the students?” Ms Clark shouted at Croix

“Well, my dears; get dressed right away. We are paying a visit to the head!” Ms O’Shaughnessy added abruptly.

The two girls obeyed and followed their teachers looking at their feet; terrified at the idea of being expelled and separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been several months since the first chapter. I am actually working on a long Fanfic (around 50 chapters) on another subject and this one is meant to be a short one. This chapter settles life at Luna Nova (an idyllic version that can be far from the original). There is no real drama, the complication should happen in the next chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia.


	3. separated

##  Chapter 3: Separated

The Headmistress was in her room when she received a call from Ms O’Shaughnessy asking her to meet them at the office. The little woman wondered what the students could have done once again to bother her when she was getting ready to go to bed. She walked hastily down the corridor and entered her office. A few minutes later someone knocked at the door.

“Come in!” she said with a crossed voice. Ms Clark opened and pushed the culprits in; Ms O’Shaughnessy closed it behind her. “May I know why I am being disturbed in the evening?” added the Head.

Ms Clark summed up the situation with vehemence, showing how shocked she still was. The Head turned to the students asking for confirmation. Once again Croix repeated what they had told their professors earlier, Chariot only nodded at times when she met the furious look of the Headmistress.

“I am very disappointed in you two. You, Ms Du Nord, never behaved like this before. I know that you like to show off your skills in illusion and this is not what’s bothering me. But getting involved that way with another student is highly scandalous. And you Ms Merrides, I expected an exemplary behaviour on the basis of your records. This is outrageous! For that reason I will separate you. You will not be allowed to communicate for a month. Ms Merrides, you will change class, you are skilled enough to follow the advanced program of a third year student. I had been hesitating while studying your application form whether to register you as a second year or a third year student. I think that will be for the best. You two will be forbidden to take part in any group activity for the next 30 days and will be confined in your rooms after class. The only derogation being made for the library but you will not be allowed to go at the same time. Am I being clear?” The Head had never looked so cold.

Chariot was shaking; she let a gasp out when she heard that they would be separated and not even in the same class anymore.

“Very clear. I am sorry for the nuisance.” Croix bent respectfully as she spoke.

“Feel thankful that I did not expel you right away. DISMISSED!”

The teachers led the girls out and each made sure that they remained in their room. They pronounced a spell in direction of the door to make sure they could not get out without the teachers to be noticed. The students on patrol duty were warned and asked to pay a particular attention to those two.

Chariot threw herself on her bed and started sobbing loudly. How could she have been so careless and foolish? She punched her pillow in frustration yelling at herself “Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!”

Croix sat at her desk and was feeling desperate. Now that she was alone she could get rid of the cold mask. She had warned Chariot before that they needed to be discreet. How could she have let her guard off so thoughtlessly? She was mad at herself more than at her partner. Croix was the wise one, she should have known better. This situation was so vexatious that she brushed violently the pile of book next to her with the back of her hand.

The night was agitated for both of them and they could hardly get any sleep. Chariot bore a gloomy look upon her face and her classmate could only notice it.

“Chariot? What’s up? You look awful this morning!”

“I am not allowed to tell. I’ve been punished.”

“You? Gosh, what have you done, it’s unlikely…”

“I told you, I am not allowed to talk about it.”Chariot interrupted her angrily.

The girl went back to her seat and Chariot could hear the murmurs spreading all over the classroom. The absence of Croix was also noticed. The homeroom teacher made his entrance and announced that from this day, Ms Merrides would follow the 3rd year program. Exclamation of both admiration and deception filled the class.

“She is so smart!”

“Oh no, I liked her so much!”

“I’ll miss her!”

“I miss her already… and terribly” Chariot thought. She looked at the window, trying not to meet anyone’s eyes as she felt she could burst into tears any moment if she did. Class started but she was not focused; she could not get rid of her guilty feeling and Croix was omnipresent in her thoughts.

When the bell rang at 9, the third-year students had the surprise to meet a new classmate. Croix once again had to go through the protocol of introduction but this time she felt less assertive and kept it short.

“My name is Croix Merrides, I transferred recently and was firstly appointed to the second year program. My results convinced the Head to transfer me with you. Nice to meet you.” Her tone was robotic, with a total lack of energy. The other students looked at her interrogatively, not understanding why she was looking so unenthusiastic.

The teacher invited her to take a seat in the front. She obeyed did not give a glance at the students sitting on each side. She took her notebook and started working.

The following days were identical for both girls; they woke up in the morning, got ready, and waited for the patrol to accompany them to class. All their meals were served in their rooms. They followed their courses and turned back to their room at 4 p.m. while the other students were joining their clubs.

Chariot felt like a lion in a cage, she used to wander in the park with her friends after class, or practice her magic but now she was secluded between those four walls with nothing to distract her boredom. She kept drawing the face of her loved one on every page of her notebooks. How she missed her! Her whole body craved her presence. She recollected the contact of their skins, the pressure of their lips and the beating of their hearts when they were making love. She lay down on her bed and squeezed her pillow.

“I want her, I need her. I’ve never felt anything like that before. Why is this so painful?” She mumbled in her cushion.

Croix asked every day if she could use the library after class. She was allowed to borrow books but not to stay. Once she had chosen the ones necessary for her research, she was led back to her room. She usually sat at her desk and worked frenetically to catch up with the third year program. At midnight, when her eyes could not bear the light of her reading lamp anymore, she turned it off to get some sleep and started all over again the next day.

The first weekend felt even worse for both of them since the students were all going down town. A Shakespeare festival had been organised and the teacher thought that it would be interesting to take the students. Chariot had always loved plays and was particularly fond of Shakespeare, though she preferred the comedies to the tragedies. Croix would have gladly joined the group, even if she was not a big fan of drama. She decided to use this allocated time to work on her personal research. She had borrowed a lot of books in science and could still use her tablet that she had hidden from inspection when entering Luna Nova.

On the second weekend, the potion teacher had taken her students to the forest to collect plants. A camp was settled to make it more recreational. At night around the fire the students told horror stories or sang while grilling marshmallows. The next Monday, all were talking about the merriment they had felt and once again Chariot got frustrated.

The two next week were no better for the punished students. Chariot’s marks dropped drastically since she was not listening in class. On the contrary, Croix had caught up with her classmates and could now easily show her skills and impress them. Her attitude did not make her notorious and, contrarily to the immediate popularity she had obtained as a second year student, her peers considered her with suspicion.

After the 30 days of confinement in their dorm room, they were individually summoned by Ms Holbrooke, the Head of Luna Nova. Chariot entered the office with a nagging pit in her stomach. She could not look at the witch and she bent her head shamefully.

“Ms Du Nord, I thought that you would have taken this punishment seriously and used your time to work. I cannot be more disappointed when I see your results. Your grades have been plummeting and your attention in class is questionable. Your teachers report that you are spacing out, unable to answer when they ask you a question. This is unacceptable Ms Du Nord. I don’t know what to do to motivate you. You’d better take your friend as an example. Ms Merrides has already caught up the whole second year program and is now competing with the top students of her class. At least, this seclusion has been beneficial for one of the two. I am sorry to observe that you did not take advantage of that situation.”

“S..sorry..” was the only thing that Chariot could say.

“You should not apologize to me, you should feel sorry for yourself. I allow you two again to speak to each other but beware of your behaviour. If you are ever caught again in such a degrading situation, I will have to expel you.”

“Y..yes Ms Holbrookee.”

Chariot left the office and was startled when she met her beloved Croix in the waiting room. She would have liked to embrace her, to kiss her, but the secretary asked the third year student to enter the office. They only could look at each other in despair.

Croix sat on the chair as she was invited to do by Ms Holbrooke.

“Well, it seems that you used your time smartly Ms Merrides. I should have registered you with the third years from the beginning. I can see that your marks are more than satisfactory and you are taking your studies seriously as expected. I dare hope I will never have to intervene because of your shameful attitude.”

“This will never happen again Ms Holbrookee.”

“Right. So, Your little friend did not manage as well as you did. Her results are terrible, she has totally lost her motivation. As you are now allowed to speak together, I hope you will find the words to shake her.”

“Oh, is it that bad?”

“Even worse than bad. She is ranking at the bottom of all the second year students. Even her magic has dropped.”

“Will you authorize me to tutor her, I promise that this time there will be no fooling around. Time will be dedicated to work only.”

“I hope I can trust you. Her situation is so desperate that I will put you to the test. Make her get the average mark in all the subjects and I will consider you trustful. You’ve got up to the next exams, that is … one month.”

Croix swallowed with difficulty knowing the challenge was high due to the laziness of her pupil. But that would be a good excuse to spend time with her.

“I will do my best Ms Holbrooke.”

“Good, you may leave now.”

Croix got out of the office. Her first thought was to run and tell Chariot about the news but the bell rang and she had to go to class.

The afternoon class was taking place outdoor since it was a broom-flying class. Both third and second years were gathered on the platform. The teacher had prepared a race with obstacles and made teams mixing older and younger students. Chariot could at last be reunited with Croix but as it was in public, she could not show at all how excited she was. Her eyes though were betraying her since they were set amorously on her lover. Croix acted as usual, being distant and cold in public.

“Team 4 team 5 on your marks… Ready, steady… GO!” Professor Nelson shouted.

Chariot took the lead as usual in this kind of situation; she dodged the obstacles with elegance and was followed by a third year student. Just behind Croix was following but she was not the best Broom-flyer. She disliked the posture and was working on her spare time on a modern evolved version that would suit her more. The last one of the team was a second year student and she seemed to struggle with her broom. Suddenly, she lost control as she took a prodigious acceleration. The poor girl screamed and was hurting the trees and the bushes and finally she let the broom go and rolled on the grass.

Chariot, when she heard the scream turned her head and saw the erratic broom going up and down. With a looping she rushed to help her classmate, Croix being the closest hasted to join her. Chariot could not catch the girl but Croix chanted a spell and stopped the broom. She took a device from her pocket and scanned the brush. The device emitted little noises as it collected data. Croix replaced it secretly in her pocket.

Professor Nelson landed next to Chariot and the student. The latter was unconscious and the instructor dismissed the class to take her to the nurse. Chariot was charged to tell the headmistress about the incident. Croix brought back the broom and the fourth team mate advised her to give it to the Headmistress as well because something was wrong with it.

Both Chariot and Croix flew next to each other heading for Ms Holbrookee’s office. They would not have imagined going back there so soon.

“Hey, we did not have the chance to speak so far.” Chariot said

“We will have plenty of time to catch up after this. First let’s focus on this incident. Something is clearly going wrong here. This broom seems to have been cursed.”

“Cursed? But who would want to harm Margaret, she’s adorable and everybody likes her.”

“Well, I don’t know, but this broom is not reacting as it should. I have scanned it with a device I created; I will collect the data to check this out.”

“Huh?”

“you’ll see tonight.”

“To.. tonight? Don’t you think it’s dangerous to sneak at night?”

“Oh, I didn’t have time to tell you. Your tutoring lessons start today, my reputation is at stake, so you’d better work hard!”

“What? Working?”

“No time to argue, here is the entrance. Let’s go.”

The girls got in the office and reported the situation. Croix handed the broom to Ms Holbrookee and described the movements it had made during the race. She also told her she used a spell that was containing its energy. Ms Holbrooke secured the object in a specific room and thanked the girls for the news. She would visit the injured girl as soon as the doctor gave permission.

They both went to Croix’s room and as soon as she had shut the door, Chariot jumped on her, kissing her furiously. The third year student tried to push her away since the moment was inappropriate but the red-haired’s embrace was so tight that she could not escape and eventually gave in. After all she had longed those kisses as much as her partner. It lasted a while and when their lips parted Chariot had begun to unbutton her lover’s blouse. Croix grabbed her wrist firmly and stopped her.

“Chariot, stop! It’s inappropriate! Aren’t you worried for our friend?”

Chariot felt ashamed when Croix mentioned the situation of Margaret.

“Sorry, I got carried away… I have missed you so much, I needed your kisses so badly”

“I know my darling, it’s the same for me.” Croix’s voice had softened. “But our friend needs our help. Let me show you what I was talking about before.” Croix connected the little scanner to her tablet and tapped the screen. The data transferred into the software and after a few minutes, tables and line charts appeared on the screen. Chariot looked at them as if they were hieroglyphs.

“See? That’s what I thought. There is a curse, this is the average magic and this is the level of dark magic.”

“Huh? Sorry but I can’t read this.”

“Well, to sum up, when she started flying her broom was using the stone’s energy but after two minutes, it was overpowered by another source. And if I look at the composition of the residues … wait until I find the table… here. These are components of dark magic.”

“You should give this to Ms Holbrooke.”

“And risk having my devices confiscated? No way. We will lead our enquiry on our own, and I will just make suggestions to lead her to the same conclusion with her outdated means.”

“Our enquiry?”

“If it happened to Maggie, it could happen again. We need to find out who’s behind this and why.”

“If we can help Maggie, I’m in!”

“Let’s go and see if she has recovered consciousness.”

The girls went to the nurse room and the doctor had just examined Margaret. She had little injuries but nothing serious. She had regained consciousness while flying with Professor Nelson. She was now asleep because of the shock. They were allowed to see her on the condition to be very quiet and not to wake her up. Croix entered first and watched the nurse. While she disappeared in the next room, she took her pocket scanner and passed it all along Margaret’s body. Chariot was charged to ask questions to the nurse if ever she returned before Croix could finish. But she was preparing medicine for the evening visits and did not pay attention to the two visitors. The girls, as promised to the doctor, did not stay long and met the headmistress on their way. She asked about her student and the girls reassured her. Croix suggested with more insistence that she thought the broom was maybe cursed with dark magic and she expressed her concern. Ms Holbrooke tried to keep her composure, since it was a serious matter, and promised to enquire deeply without neglecting any possibility.

They headed for Croix’s room again well determined to find more information. The scan confirmed the former results. Maggie was infected by dark magic. The question was, how to cure her from this curse and how she got that.

“Well, I will need time to think about it. In the meantime, You and I have things to do.” Croix said looking at her partner cunningly.

“At last!” Chariot said unzipping her skirt

“Wait! What are you doing?”

“What? You’ve just said…”

“I was talking about your studies! You fool!”

Chariot turned her head pouting.

“Sit here, I have scheduled a program of revision for your next exams. If you do not get the average everywhere, I will lose Holbrookee’s trust. So you’d better work or I kick your ass!”

“Mmm, meanie!”

“So let’s start with maths.”

“Nooooo, please!”

“Tsk! 25/100 at your last exam, Sorry my dear, you won’t escape it.”

“Shall I have a reward if I am working well, teacher.”

“Mmm… maybe.”

And for the three next hours, Croix taught her student with difficulties since the latter tried everything to slack off. But she was put back to work with the hit of a book on her head each time she was spacing out. While the dunce was trying to solve the problems, Croix was working on her own homework. From times to times, Chariot was looking at her with admiration. She was beautiful when she was focused and writing with a sort of frenzy. But from the corner of her eyes Croix could feel the loving gaze and this ended systematically by a hit on the head.

“Work instead of looking at me. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I Know, I know! It just seems incredible to have you here sitting next to me. In the last month, I almost wondered if all this had not been a dream. And now I see you here, oh Croix…” Chariot folded her arms around her lover’s shoulder. Croix pushed her away again.

“Let me see what you have done before.”

“How can you be so heartless?”

“I’m not, I am doing all this because I lo..” But Croix suddenly realised that she was about to confess and flushed. Chariot remarked it and took advantage of the situation. She took her tutor’s chin in her hand and forced her to look at her.

“Because you what?” She said cunningly

“Shut up!”

“Tss tss I want to hear you say it…”

“Be.. Because… I love you, ok?” Croix closed her eyes and confessed in such a cross manner that it made Chariot laugh.

“Ha ha ha, I Love YOU! I do love you too!” she said cupping Croix’s cheeks in her hands before kissing her with fondness.

The maths notebook remained on the desk uncorrected, while the two lovers were walking to the bed, getting rid of their clothes. Chariot was on fire, and Croix, who was meant to be the most experienced of the two, flustered at the excitement her partner showed. She let her take the lead and her devotion pushed the tutor to surrender to her student. She bit the pillow not to attract the attention in the corridor because she was too loud. Chariot was exulting, Croix was under her total domination and that was a take back for the three hours of maths torture.

They both fell on the mattress, out of breath, sweating and exhausted. Croix crawled on her partner, leaving soft kisses on each part of the skin her lips met.

“If only you could learn maths as fast as this!” she joked. Chariot punched her arm softly in response.

“Meanie, I can teach you more you know!” Chariot said flipping her on the bed holding her wrists.

“No, please, give me a break, you killed me.”

“Just a short break then.” she was imitating her tutor when Chariot was pleading for a break during the revision.

“Insatiable girl!” Croix said before kissing her earnestly.

They were catching their breath; Chariot lying on her defeated mistress, caressing her body with a loose hand, when suddenly, a shriek was heard in the corridor.


	4. A curse on Luna Nova

##  Chapter 4: A Curse on Luna Nova

“Stay there, I will check what it is.”Croix ordered.

“But I can help!”

“It’s past midnight, if we meet the patrol getting both out of here, we’re going to be in great trouble.”

“Hmpf, I guess you’re right, but come back soon and pay attention. I’m worried…”

“I’ll be alright; don’t worry darling.” Croix kissed her lover, put on clothes and got out of the room. The scream was coming from the Baths area, close to her bedroom. In the hallway she met the three members of the patrol.

“Croix, what are you doing here after the curfew?” The eldest asked.

“Have you heard that scream coming from the Baths?” Croix asked “I wanted to check.”

“Sempai, can you come with us?” asked the youngest one, visibly scared as her voice was trembling.

“Of course, you should go and get a teacher here while we secure the perimeter. Alice, you should go at the end of the corridor on the left and prevent the others to approach, June, you should do the same on the right, while I secure the main entrance of the Baths.”

“Isn’t it too dangerous Miss Meridies?” asked the third student.

“Joanie will come back soon with a teacher and I have great skills in Defence Magic.”

“Ok then; Let’s go!” Alice said to her companion.

As soon as the girls were out of sight, Croix pronounced a spell to create a protective barrier around her. A shiny green light surrounded her and followed her every move. She entered the Baths and started looking around. The room was quiet and nothing seems to be different from the day she came with Chariot.

She headed to the lockers room and froze a second when she saw one of her classmate lying on the floor. She ran to see if she was still breathing, and she was reassured when she felt a slight breath and her heartbeat. She was unconscious though. Croix took her pocket scanner and brushed the whole body with its ray. She looked around and found next to her a strange little pot of moisturizing cream. It seemed to be homemade since the content was handwritten on a sticker. Croix did not want to leave any trace of her passage so she touched nor the girl, nor the pot; instead she sampled a little bit of the cream inside with the blade of her pocket knife and put it in a small plastic bag she was always carrying if she found anything to analyse.

She walked through the showers and got around the big pool but she could not find anything suspect. She needed to get out if she did not want to get caught browsing. She rushed out just in time; she heard Alice’s voice talking to Professor Clark.

“Miss Meridies, what are you doing here?”The teacher asked

“I was working in my room over there when I heard the scream and proposed to help the patrol to secure the place. ”

“I see” her professor replied suspiciously. “You may leave now, I will handle this from now. Miss Holbrooke is on her way.”

“Here I am!” The little woman was out of breath after running. “Girls, get back to your room, we will put a protection spell on the place. Do not come close to the area before we authorize the access.”

The girls parted and Croix headed back to her room. Chariot had put her clothes on and was pacing nervously waiting for her lover. When the door opened, she jumped on Croix covering her with kisses.

“Oh dear, you are safe! I was about to get out and fetch you.”

“I’m glad you did not, you would have met Clark and Holbrooke!”

“Heeeeee! Geez!... so what happened?”

“I cannot tell for sure, Amy one of my classmate was lying on the floor unconscious. There was no trace of battle. She was still breathing, her heart was ok. I just had time to scan her and a strange pot of cream beside her.”

“And you let her like this????”

“No, I met the patrol before going in the Baths and sent little Joanie to call a teacher! I am not a doctor so there was nothing I could do; I just know that we are not supposed to move injured people. Eventually Clark and Holbrooke arrived just a few minutes after I had found Amy. They are taking care of her now. I sneaked out of the Baths just in time before their arrival.”

“What a relief for you, but I am worried for your classmate.”

“Amy is a nice girl; she would not get into trouble voluntarily. Well, let’s analyse the scan and see if it reveals anything.”

Croix plugged her scanner to her computer and let the software work on the data. As it was a long analysis Croix proposed Chariot to go to sleep.

“You cannot get out of here, the sector is protected we cannot get out of our rooms. Tomorrow morning, we will have to be extremely careful… if Holbrooke authorizes us to leave the rooms.”

“Huh? Gosh, that is really serious.” Chariot commented as for herself. “The good news is that we can sleep together.”

“Sleep ok? Nothing else.”

“Yes, I must say that tonight’s event broke the mood.”

“Same. You can use the bathroom first; I’ll correct your maths exercises in the meantime.”

“oh! I had almost forgotten…I’ll be quick.”

Croix as soon as she had opened an eye wanted to see the results of her scans but could not move. Chariot had fallen asleep on top of her and would not let her go. The red-haired felt something warm and soft on her cheeks and started rubbing her face on it. She opened an eye, remembering suddenly where she was and realised that her soft pillow was Croix’s breasts. Cupping one in her hand she kissed it gently and looked above, finding her lover a little flustered.

“Even in your sleep? Geez, I turned you into a perv!”

“He he… ‘mornin’ darling!” Chariot mumbled still kissing her _pillow_ s.

“Get up; I need to check the results.”Croix was clearly not in the cuddling mood and pushed her lover on the side of the bed. She got out of the sheets and rushed to the computer.

“So … What does it say?” Chariot asked a little frustrated to have been rejected that way.

“There are traces of black Magic all over her skin. Her vitals seem OK, that’s a relief. I cannot interpret all of it, I lack knowledge.”

“You? Lacking knowledge? That would be a first!”

“I haven’t studied Medicine, I know the basics in Biology, but here it’s beyond my knowledge.”

“What you call the basics is the whole programme of High school!”

“Yes and if you just learn what you are taught in class, you won’t even get the basics! You need to go further!”

“Heeeee? Are you nuts? Miss Clark is already killing us with all her lessons.”

“Tsk, that’s a piece of cake compared to what you should know already. So let’s see in details what might have happened to poor Amy.”

The data revealed that her body was possessed at the moment of the scan by a Dark Force and the strength of that force might have provoked her collapse. Croix deduced she might have summoned it. The question was if that Dark Force was still there or had vanished?

In the morning, the confinement measures had been cancelled and the students could go back to class. Everybody was talking about the assault that had occurred last night. Holbrookee had gathered all the students to report on the situation and advise them not to wander alone, and be prudent.

Amy was still at the infirmary, the doctor had found nothing serious but the girl remained silent as if in a state of shock. The nurse had spent the whole night holding the girl’s hand for she kept crying in her sleep. Holebroke and all the Teachers had patrolled all over the campus and chanted protective spell. No trace of an attacker could be neither found, nor any evil spirit. The mystery of Amy’s assault remained unsolved so far.

During lunch break, Croix went to the lab using the pretext of a personal experiment. The chemistry teacher allowed her and felt proud of the girl’s devotion to her studies. Croix took the sample from her pocket and placed a part of it on the microscope. She then used all the sophisticated machines and launched a detailed analysis of the cream. She made notes and when it was over, she was confirmed the presence of Dark substances that were responsible for the traces on Amy’s skin. The composition of the cream was awkward and did not correspond at all to the ingredients necessary for a simple moisturizing cream. This recipe needed to be checked with the library data base.

Croix went back to class and could hardly focus on the teacher’s speech. When the bell announcing the end of the day rang, Croix rushed out of class and met Chariot on her way. They both ran to the library and used the giant database containing all the potions and recipes since the first Nine Witches.

“How are we going to find it?” Chariot asked.

“I need first to select the type of recipe, let’s see… salve. Then, look, there are fields to fill in for details… here ingredients; can you dictate them from my notebook please?”

And Chariot enumerated all the ingredients from the most important to the least. Croix pressed the _Enter_ button and they both waited.

12 results appeared with a warning sign representing the symbol of black Magic. That meant the files needed an authorization to be opened.

“Crap! Of course I should have thought about it, there is a security code!”

“In that case, Amy cannot have had access to that recipe from here.”

“You are right; there must be another source somewhere. I’d like to search her room but Holbrooke closed it with a spell. At least I can try to see if they have found the pot of cream and made the link.”

“We should tell them, we cannot let someone use Dark Magic like this.”

“I cannot tell them I have found Amy first, are you crazy?”

“Let’s get out of here, there is nothing more we can do now.”

All the students were either working at the library or occupied with their club activities. Croix proposed Chariot to work in her room for the maths exercises were not brilliant. They crossed the building that was sheltering most of the clubs when a blast made them jump. Everyone got out to see where this was coming from.

“It’s the occult club!” a voice screamed

“Oh No, Mary! Anna! HELP!” another yelled

The ruckus was so intense that Chariot and Croix could not even get close to the room. A teacher ordered the students to clear passage. Finnelan followed and all the students kept quiet. The one who had found her friends told the teachers. The room was again secured while the doctor was called. The two new victims were sent to the infirmary. Holbrookee joined the two teachers and they started their analysis of the room.

Chariot and Croix followed the instruction to stay in their rooms and could not even be together. In the evening, the teachers allowed the students to get out assuring them that everything was secured now. Everyone headed to the refectory for dinner except Croix and Chariot. They sneaked out of the group and met outside to go back to the club rooms.

“Do you think we will find anything? The teachers might have taken all the clues.”

“Probably. And I don’t even know if the room is still closed by the Protection Spell. But we’ll get fixed in a minute.”

The room had been cleaned and seemed totally normal when they broke in. Chariot had easily opened the locker with a paperclip.

“Amazing, may I call you Arsène Lupin?”

“Huh Huh! You have plenty of other of my skills to discover.” Chariot smirked at Croix.

They inspected meticulously the whole room. Croix scanned every single part of it and both girls turned back to Croix’s room. Once again the large number of scans required a long treatment by the computer. In the meantime, Croix did not forget her tutoring role, to Chariot’s great despair.

Later in the evening, the software revealed large residues of Dark Power all over the room and a larger amount on a book shelf.

“What does that mean?” Chariot asked

“There was probably a book full of Black Magic on that shelf, Maybe Holbrookee has taken it.”

“That would explain the recipe. Is Amy a member of the occult club?”

“I’m not sure; I thought she was more into biochemistry, which would explain the pot of self made cream. But why would she use Dark Power?”

“That’s a mystery. If there is a book we have to find it, all the solutions might be linked to it.”

“I guess. Well, let me see your essay… Mmm… huh huh… oooh.”

“What?”

“It’s surprisingly … good. Excellent I should say!”

“Surprisingly?” Chariot insisted, frowning.

“Hem, last month you got a very bad mark, so I expected something as awful as your maths exercises.”

“Last month, I could not focus, I gave in a blank paper, but before that I was quite good at English.”

“I can see that. Well tomorrow, Biology!”

“Errrkkk!”

In the infirmary, the two last victims woke up. The Nurse called the doctor to check on them, everything had gone back to normal. Holbrooke and Finnelan hasted to question them on what had happened. The two students remembered nothing and were rather scared by what they were told. Their last memory was about getting in the club room, what happened after remained blurred. The doctor transferred them to the Hospital with the other victim to proceed to deeper examinations.

The school remained quiet for the three next days; the teachers patrolling more than usual, checking on the classrooms, clubs and all common spaces. An inspection was also led in every bedroom but nothing suspect was found.

Croix and Chariot never gave up their inquiry but they could find nothing either.

“This is so frustrating. Mary and Anna have come back this morning, thanks Goodness, they are totally fine but that loss of memory is weird.”

“You’re telling me! And poor Amy, she is still in state of shock. I heard a conversation between the nurse and Holbrooke; Amy said she had seen a monster in the Baths.”

“A monster? Like… Nessie?”

“Fool! Actually I don’t know, but Holbrooke kept saying ‘nonsense’; I believe she hallucinated.”

“Or she summoned an evil spirit…”

“Then, this evil spirit would be wandering in the school.”

“Maybe it is… we still don’t know what provoked the blast in the Occult Club Room.”

“Nope! Anyway, if you are talking about all this stuff, that means you have finished your chemistry exercises.

“Yeah… don’t frown like that… these equations are unintelligible!”

“Mmm… It’s not correct but not that bad… Look…” And for the next hour Croix patiently explained again the rules. Chariot tried again made some mistakes, but much less.

“It’s late; I think you deserve your reward Student Du Nord.” Croix Stood up and took her pupil by the hand leading her to the bathroom. “What would you say if we shared a bath here? That would be less comfortable than the big one but less risky.”

“Take it all off!”

“Hey wait! Let me open the tap!”

“Ok but fast, I feel a sudden hunger…”

“Be patient, it takes a while for the bathtub to fill. We will catch a cold if we get undressed too fast.”

“Mmmm I know a way to heat you up!” Chariot enlaced her lover and bit her neck

“Aw you meant, to eat me up, right?” awww!”

“Shhhh!” Chariot placed her finger on her lover’s lips before kissing her passionately. Very slowly, she unbuttoned Croix’s uniform, kissing each part unveiled. Croix could not believe how racy Chariot had become. If Croix was rather dominant in everyday life, Chariot reversed the roles in their intimate moments. It had been a long time since she had not let herself go with someone. Chariot was still in the discovering phase but her instincts always touched her partner perfectly. When the bath was ready and bubbly, only Croix was totally undressed. Chariot lifted her from the floor and carried her bridal style in the water. She took off hastily her clothes and joined her. Croix held her in her arms and they looked at each other amorously for a while, kissing softly.

“I’m so in love with you Croix!”

“I… I… feel the same.” Croix turned her head, abashed. She was not good at expressing her feelings and admired Chariot’s direct way of telling how she felt. Chariot reached her lips and let their mouths convey their love. Chariot cheeky tongue awakened their mutual desire and Croix could not resist. Her hand explored the surface of the bare wet skin, tickling the red haired and finding her way to her most sensitive area. Chariot sighed and nuzzled in Croix’s neck, letting her take the advantage for once. Croix smirked, triumphal, Chariot submitted to her power and let herself fall on the side, out of breath.

“How do you like my reward?” Croix joked.

“I think I will need your tutoring until the end of my life if this includes such treats!” Chariot kissed her tutors cheek as she was caressing her hair. “I might have also a reward to pay my smexy teacher for her lessons.”

“You do?”

“Yes but I need more space…” Chariot got out of the tub, spilling water everywhere. She took towel and circled her body with it; she handed a bathrobe to her lover and helped her out of the tub. Croix, a little maniac was focused on the water everywhere on the floor when she took off from the ground again to land on the bed. Chariot jumped next to her.

“I told you I was hungry…” and she disappeared under the fabric of the peignoir.

“Chaaaaaaa….riooooot…!”

Late in the night the two girls were sleeping in each other’s arms when the repeated clash of the shutters woke them up.

“Oh what’s that? A tempest?”Chariot asked.

“It’s rather violent. I will block the shutters.” Croix opened the window but a sudden gust of wind whirlwind in the room. Paper was flying all over the room and small trinkets fell from the shelf.

“Chariot, help me, it’s too strong, I can’t do it alone.” Both girls fought against the rage of the wind and finally blocked the shutters.

“What was that light in the sky close to the Magical Stone?”

“I don’t know but that’s suspicious; we should go and see.”

“With that wind? We might be blown away.”

“I’ll use a protective spell on my broom.”

“Hum, do you mind if I fly it? I’m much better than you in that field.”

“Hmpf….” Croix pouted but she had to admit Chariot was right.

“Touché! He heh! Come on, put on your uniform and let’s go.”

The two girls rush down the stairs with Croix’s broom in the hand. Before they opened the main door Croix took her wand and chanted her spell “Praesidium!”A green light covered them both as Croix moved her stick all around them. They opened the huge wooden door and were happy it was that heavy and not reacting to the wind. They had a lot of difficulties to shut it and once again Croix used her Magic power “Claudere!”

“Is your protective spell lasting long?”

“No worries, I can handle it,”

“Tya Freyre!” and through the tempest the broom elevated above the school.

“Look there is a tornado above the Stone!” remarked Croix “And a purple light as well.”

“I’m trying to fly in its direction but it’s as if there were magnetic forces pushing us away.” No sooner had Chariot finished her sentence than another gust pushed them violently, forcing them to go into a spin. They both screamed as the ground was dangerously getting closer. Chariot pulled the shaft with all her might and reversed the direction.

“What about your protective spell?” Chariot groaned.

“What about your flying-skills?” Croix replied in the same tone.

Suddenly the tornado diminished and the violet light as well. The force preventing them to approach lost its efficiency and the two magicians could reach the big tower.

“Chariot!!!!!! A girl is falling from the top!” Croix screamed

Chariot plummeted in the direction of the body and Croix stood on the broom to catch her. The impact deviated Chariot from her direction and she hit the wall of the tower. She managed a forced landing, but the three girls rolled on the grass. Professor Nelson landed just besides them followed by Professor Clark.

“Are you OK girls?” Nelson asked visibly worried by the fall

“Aoutch…ye…yes…” babbled Chariot.

“I think..aww” Croix was still holding the other girl in her arms.

“Gretel? Gretel? Can you hear me?” asked Clark.

“She collapsed when you cast the spell above.” Nelson noted. “I am taking her to the doctor. Take care of these two, Stephanie.” And Professor Nelson flew with the unconscious student in the air. There was no sign of the tempest anymore, as it had never happened.

“May I ask what you TWO are doing outside in the middle of the night?” Professor Clark asked with a crossed tone.

“I was woken up by the tempest and saw the purple light and the tornado as I was trying to block my shutters that had gone wild. I wanted to see if I could do anything but my flying-skills are not stupendous. So I thought of Chariot who is the best in this matter. I woke her up and she accepted to take me there.” Croix told her story without batting an eyelid.

“You always have an all made up answer, that’s impressive. I will not punish you since your disobedience saved Gretel’s life. I must thank you both for this. But next time, you’d better wake up a teacher and not your girlfriend. Your story does not make sense for that part Miss Meridies.” Clark looked straight in her eyes with a defying gaze. Croix gritted her teeth but showed no emotion while Chariot had turned her head to the other side not to show how red her face was.

“You will come to my office tomorrow at 8 a.m., we have to talk. What happened tonight MUST remain secret. Is it clear?”

“Yes Ms Clark.” They replied as a choir.

“Go to bed now… in your respective rooms!”


	5. The battle of Spirits

##  Chapter 5: The battle of Spirits

The girls had returned reluctantly to their respective bedrooms. The events of the night kept haunting them and it had been very hard for both to find sleep. Croix woke up at six and started focusing on what to tell to Ms Clark. At seven, she was ready and walked to Chariot’s room to make sure she was not oversleeping. The door was open, so she entered and surprisingly her lover was not in her bed. Croix could hear the sound of water and knocked at the bathroom door. Chariot invited her in, shamelessly, as she was taking her shower. Croix’s face reddened instantly but she could not keep her sights off the beautiful white skin, shinning with the droplets of water reverberating with the light.

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat, finding her composure. “I have been thinking on what to tell to Clark and we need to stick to the same story.”

“Do you intend to lie?” Chariot asked, surprised.

“Not really, but I cannot tell all the truth. I don’t want her to confiscate my devices. It’s already been hard to hide them during the inspection.”

Croix explained what she intended to tell and what to hide and Chariot listened to her carefully and agreed.

“Give me the towel darling, will you?” Chariot got out of the bathtub and wrapped in the fabric held by her lover. “Don’t leave your tongue out! Pervy!”

“Heyyyyy! Who is showing off naked. I’m only human, I just cannot resist looking at you.”

“Huh huh, if I was not so nervous because of Clark, I would have let you enjoy the sight longer. But I am not in the mood.”

“Me neither, to be honest; I could not sleep correctly.” Croix sighed looking down. Chariot kissed her cheek while putting on her blouse.

“I had nightmares all night. I wish you were here. I would have felt better.” She put on her belt and finally was ready. The girls could not eat anything and skipped breakfast. They waited for the clock to show ten to eight to go to their appointment. They remained on the bed for long minutes, sitting in each other’s arms, holding hands and from time to time kissing either on the forefront or in the neck.

It was time and as two condemned to the gallows, the girls walked to Ms Clark’s office. They held hands all the way and the moisture they felt proved how nervous they were. They swallowed noisily before gathering their courage and knocking at the door.

“Come in! Right on time. Sit down.” The two witches sat in the armchairs facing the big wooden desk and Ms Clark sat in her huge leather armchair in front of them. “Young ladies, I would like to know why I find you on my way, or on the one of my colleagues, each time a dramatic event occurs.”

“That’s pure chance Ms Clark, or I would rather say, misfortune.”Croix hurried to answer.

“Mmm, Let me doubt it, this is rather suspicious. You were involved in the broom incident, were the first one in the Baths one, and yesterday night you two were flying in the middle of the storm. I need an explanation.”

“I swear it’s only due to chance!” cried Chariot who started to panic. Croix put her hand on hers and started to tell her version of the story not omitting any details except the ones concerning her scanner and computer software.

“and what were you doing in the evening in the occult room? You think you are smart, Ms Merridies, But we are not stupid. This room was under our watch and I could see both of you penetrating in it while the rest of the students were at the cafeteria.

“We were worried and wanted to find clues by ourselves.” Chariot answered.

“It’s not that we did not trust you all, but maybe we were carried away by all this mystery. But anyway, there was nothing to be found in this room.”

The questions went on and on for almost an hour. Croix started to present her conviction to guide the teacher the best way she could.

“I don’t know how you were able to analyse all this without being involved yourself. But one thing is sure; we share the same conclusions so far. I hope I can trust you but I will keep an eye on you, so today you are not going to class, I will take you with me. A celebration to the nine witches is going to take place soon and I need people to help me with the errands. You will do it and I will make sure you do not go anywhere else. Go and take your brooms and your flying outfit.”

The girls ran out of the office and obeyed.

“Do you think she still suspects us?” asked Chariot worriedly.

“I think she believes us, but she must remain cautious.”

They both joined their teacher in the courtyard with their brooms in hand. They flew through the leyline and reached the city. The view from above was always stunning and for a while Chariot forgot the reasons she was there. She was about to loop with joy when she met Ms Clark’s eyes and froze on her broom. Time was not to aerobatics, and the killer look Croix added to Ms Clark’s definitely vaccinated her from doing so. They landed on the market square and followed their teacher’s orders. They shopped from several stores as well before noticing a little antique shop. It was brand new and they had never seen it before. Clark suggested getting in to find elements for the decoration of the dinner room. The man behind the counter was tall and rather scary with his long black hair, his olive wrinkled skin and red eyes.

“Oh witches! May I help you?” he said with a grin

“We’re just looking around thank you.” Clark answered coldly. She instantly felt something fishy in the way that man was looking at the girls.

“How are things going in Luna Nova? I sometimes meet some of your students here.”He said trying to make conversation with the teacher.

“Do you?” Croix asked curious.

“Not often but it happens, I have plenty of things that can be useful, some books, but also ancient magic wands, caldrons that belonged to famous witches, chandeliers…”

“What’s the most popular amongst our students?” Clark asked.

“I could not tell; it varies from a student to another. They are interested in potion books or cooking as well.”

“Cooking?” Croix raised an eyebrow. Why would her classmates take interest on such a dull thing while school provides every meal?

“And _Do It Yourself_ books as well. May I show you some that might suit you, young miss?”

“No, thanks, I have no needs of such things.” Croix replied absentmindedly.

“And you? Have you seen our bookshelf over there?” The man said addressing directly to Chariot who appeared less aggressive than her friend. She gave a look but all these dusty books seemed boring and she would rather look at magical objects such as goggle glasses that showed images of your past or this helmet that blocked mind reading.

Ms Clark in the meantime was looking everywhere, analysing discretely the objects and dust. Croix got the same idea but she could not show her pocket scanner to the teacher. She walked to her and suggested her to analyse the bookshelf; Chariot was talking to the shopkeeper, asking the function of each object she could find interesting. She ended up buying an old set of divination cards, while the two others made their way to the exit.

“Did you find anything my Ladies?” The shopkeeper insisted.

“Not really, we were just curious since you shop opened recently.”

“Come back soon and if you need anything, pay me a visit.”

“Sure. Good bye Sir.”

“Goodbye my Ladies.”

The three of them got out of the shop and Chariot clung to Croix’s arms.

“Brrr he is creepy, why did you ask me to talk to him.”

“Ms Clark and I analysed the books and shelves. Didn’t you find weird that he talked so much about our school?”

“Well, if some students came before, it was a way to keep conversation I guess.”

“Mmm. Ms Merridies is right; there was something fishy in the way he got interested in you two. Ms Du Nord, would you mind showing me the cards you bought.”

“I did not even want them; I tried to buy some time for you two. That was the cheapest item.”

“No trace of illicit magic or residue on it… but I will check in my lab if you let me. Magic here is too low for my wand to be 100% reliable. We took sample of dust as well.”

“I guess he is not stupid enough to leave illicit objects in view. I wish I could have visited his storage room.”

“It’s hard to do here, you could have cast an invisibility spell, but it would not have lasted and you would not have been able to fly back, it consumes a lot of Magical energy.”

“I thought about it as well Ms Clark, I got to the same conclusion.”

“Let’s go to the hospital now, I would like to visit Gretel, Professor Nelson told me the doctor called an ambulance for her.”

“Can we see her as well?” Chariot asked visibly worried for the girl.

“No, you will wait for me, it won’t take long. Then we’ll go back to Luna Nova.”

The trio got into the ER entrance; the girl had been transferred to the Neurology service. She had recovered consciousness but suffered from a loss of memory. Ms Clark alone was allowed to visit her briefly. The girl did not recognize her and had no memory of the tempest. A nurse asked the teacher to leave and let the girl get some rest. This should be a temporary situation and maybe the contact of her family, expected in the afternoon, would help her get better.

The witches turned back to Luna Nova but as soon as they got out of the leyline, a weird feeling invaded Professor Clark.

“Girls, stick close to me” she stretched out her arms and took the girls hands in hers. She chanted a long spell and a green light brushed all over them leaving a halo around them. “let’s go now, something is not normal down there. Get ready, we might have to fight.”

“Heeeeeeee?” Chariot exclaimed.

“Ok Ms Clark. May I ask you, how you know about this?”

“I have developed sensorial Magic; I am particularly receptive to Dark powers and my perception now is high. Let’s go and see the Headmistress.”

Luna Nova felt too peaceful to be real, the three of them, wand in hand walked cautiously in. In the corridor they found students lying on the ground. Ms Clark ran to check on them but they all were sound asleep. The same was to be witnessed in the classrooms, in the labs or at the library. They finally reached Professor Holbrooke’s office, her secretary was also asleep at her desk, still holding her feather pen, ink dripping on the paper. Ms Clark opened the door and found the headmistress lying on the carpet, sleeping as well.

“Girls, I think we are the only ones who can do something to reverse the curse.”

“Yes but how? And what caused it?” Chariot asked “they won’t wake up.”

Suddenly a blast coming from the basement made them jump in terror, Chariot rushed in Croix’s arms.

“If there is something to fight, it seems to be in the forbidden basement. Girls, I am going to take you to a place you might have never heard of but for that I need to blindfold you.”

“You still do not trust us.” Croix gritted her teeth

“There are things that students do not need to face, and let adults take care of. But you are the only two remaining here and I will probably need you. But I don’t want you to go back there in the future. Come on look at me and do not move.” Ms Clark chanted another spell and with a move of her wand a black piece of fabric came out of nowhere and tied itself around the eyes of the girls. Chariot could feel Croix’s frustration and she took her hand to calm her down.

Ms Clark walked to the chimney, removed the logs and pressed the back with the tip of her wand. The bottom slipped into darkness and opened on a staircase. Clark took one of the girls by the hand and led them down, lighting her way with a magic ball of energy. Chariot yelped when a cobweb caressed her face and almost tripped in the stony stairs.

After walking in a labyrinth of underground corridors, Ms Clark released the spell and the girls rubbed their eyes trying to accommodate to the dim light of the place. They were in a large room, extremely dusty due to the recent explosion. Nelson was lying on the floor, half of her robe burnt. Clark ran to her and immediately cast a healing spell. Nelson opened her eyes and mumbled.

“Stephanie… I could not… stop…it. Where is Ann?”

“Professor Finnelan? I have not seen her. Everyone is asleep above.”

“I know, I was flying when… gas spread all over the school… I followed a shadow … up to here… but it shoot me…cough cough…”

“I will take you upstairs.”

“No, I will be fine, Follow the leyline to Arcturus… forest. It escaped that way. Go!”

Reluctantly Ms Clark left Professor Nelson who was now standing with the help of her broom. She looked around and took three random brooms that were stored in an ancient cell.

“These are old but they will take us to the forest. This place is extremely dangerous; we need to fly way above the trees. Do not get distracted by anything, it’s full of tricks and you never know if what you see is really what it seems to be. Remain glued to me!”

“Yes Ms Clark!” the two answered as good soldiers. Nelson smiled for it reminded her of good old days in the army.

“I will try to wake up Ann, she will probably find a way to get rid of that curse. Good luck.”

“Thank you Professor Nelson.”

The leyline brought them to the most lugubrious forest they had ever seen. They knew the eastern part which was harmless and offered material to be gathered for the potions, but that was the forbidden part, the entrance was blocked by spells Professor Holbrooke had cast to protect her students. It was so huge that Croix wondered if Ms Clark knew where they were going. All of a sudden, a twirl of purple dust flew towards the sky.

“Over there let’s go!” Clark rushed in the direction of the tornado . When they were a few metres away, they realised a massive Magic Circle was glowing on the ground with two girls chanting spells in an unknown language. They were holding a grimoire that shone and its light bathed their faces. Their expression was blank as if they were possessed.

“They are our students! Girls we have to stop them. Repeat the spell after me and do exactly what I do, I’ll go first.”

Ms Clark pointed her wand to the grimoire and cast a spell; a ray of blue light came out of her wand but never reached its goal, a purple screen emerged from the circle and reflected the ray toward the teacher who fell heavily on the ground.

“Ms Clark! What shall we do?” Chariot asked

“Let’s try to get the girls first.”

“No it will turn against us as well; look they are in the magic circle.”

“I have no solution right now I need to think. Let’s help Clark.”

Chariot clenched her fist in frustration. “I cannot believe that dark magic is invading our world, I cannot accept it! Magic is to unify people, it’s not a weapon. Magic is to heal the diseased, to ease people’s life, to make them happy; it should be used to benefit Humans. I will not let this thing ruin our life!”

“CHARIOT! ARE YOU CRAZY?” Croix yelled in panic.

The red haired did not listen and plummeted to the girls chanting with all her might the spell Clark had just used. Her whole body covered in a white light and a formidable ray of energy reached the shield in front of the grimoire, almost passing through it. In the meantime the tornado took the shape of a humanoid silhouette and tried to reach Chariot. She stood on her broom to avoid the attack back flipped on it. Behind her, the white energy transformed into a giant form looking like a lady. The white and purple forms entangled and twirled around the girls. Chariot was gripping her broom to the point her fingers hurt; Croix protected Ms Clark with her body. Trees broke, branches flew in the wind. One of the girls holding the grimoire received a stick of wood in the face and lost her balance. Croix took the opportunity to attack her and the girl fell on her knees and was pushed out of the circle by a second attack thrown by Ms Clark who had regained consciousness. The White spirit kept growing while the purple one had lost power. Clark opened her eyes as widely as saucepans.

“Woo…Woodward?”

“Huh?”

“It’s Woodward’s spirit. Croix join me; let’s increase its power by sending our energy. Repeat after me.” Ms Clark started chanting an old prayer in an ancient language, Chariot landed and joined them. Particle of white energy flew to the spirit and in no time it had doubled the size of the evil one. This one flew above the forest to regain power but Woodward did not go after it. The white spirit was standing before the three witches. She joined her hands and a weird rod with seven stones took form in her hands. She bent towards Chariot and handed her the strange object.

“Chariot du Nord, I entrust you the Claiomh Solais. Your pure heart and bravery showed me that you can change the world. Keep believing in your Magic. Go after that Evil Spirit and destroy it; for this you will repeat after me _Noctu Orfei Aude! Freator_ ”

“What…” Chariot could not find words.

“Go girls, take the broom, I will try to take care of the girls here.”Ms Clark said trying to heal the unconscious student.

Croix jumped behind Chariot, and they took off chasing the purple form fleeing before them. Chariot was almost lying on her broom to gain speed, Croix gripped her waist, closing her eyes assaulted by the wind. The distance between them and their enemy reduced dramatically. The silhouette now only twice the size of a human body flip flopped and threw a ray of energy in their direction, followed by several others; Chariot dodged each one of them.

“You need to attack it from above, fly upward!” said Croix

“I am trying my best.”

“I will fly the broom, use the Rod!”

The girls went up in the air, faster than ever. Croix took the lead of the broom and Chariot stood on her feet holding the Rod.

“Croix, I don’t know if I can do it correctly.” Croix Stood beside her maintaining the broom with her feet and leading it in circles above the spirit, the rays of energy could hardly get them.

“Now, Chariot!” She held the rod high; Croix placed her hand on Chariot’s.

“ _Noctu Orfei Aude! Freator”_ Chariot screamed, an inner voice told her to add _“Shiny Arc!”_ The rod transformed into a giant white and shinning arc with a nonetheless huge arrow. It took both girls’ strength to pull the rope and release it towards their target. The spirit disintegrated as soon as it was pierced in what looked like a chest.

The girl holding the grimoire, out of energy passed out and the circle vanished. The spirit of Woodward absorbed the remnants of purple energy and calm settled around Clark and the two unconscious girls. The white spirit then disappeared progressively leaving only glitters until nothing of her presence remained. Ms Clark chanted a spell to seal the grimoire and place it later in the secret chamber of Luna Nova. Chariot and Croix came back and Ms Clark, surprisingly held them both in her arms.

“You are safe by the Nine Witches! I was dead worried!”

“What about them?”

“I cast a healing spell, they should be alright but for now we need to go back to Luna Nova. You will tell me what happened on the way.”

When they arrived at school, everyone was starting to wake up, wondering what had happened to them. Clark had carried one of the girls on her broom and Chariot the second one. They landed in the entrance and met Professors Finnelan and Nelson. They told them to call the Headmistress and ask to see her. The girls were taken in charge by the nurse who was herself recovering from the curse.

“Will they be ok?”

“They are exhausted, they used all their magic energy, and they seem anaemic as well. They need rest and a perfusion.”

“Are you ok?” Chariot asked worried by the trembling moves of the nurse.

“I am a little feeble but I can cope with it. Let me examine you three before you leave. You have been exposed to Dark radiation, which could be harmful if not treated. I need blood samples, pull up your sleeve.”

“heee? I hate syringes!” Chariot whined

“Don’t be a baby! Hey doc I can do it if you need, your hand is still shaking.”

“Do you know how to?”

“Sure, I will show you on myself first.” With an extreme dexterity, Croix place the needle in her vein, locked the syringe and took a full pipette of blood “how many do you need?”

“Two should be enough.”

“Ok” she accomplished her mission “now, convinced?”

“I might need a lab assistant for I have to consult the whole school after what happened.” The nurse said, obviously amazed by Croix’s talent.

“Sure, I can help.” She then turned to Chariot “Come on, your turn.”

“Don’t you even dare touch me!” Chariot crawled back on the bed where she was sitting.

“Wanna bet?” Croix jumped on her and immobilized her. “Doc! The needle, please.”

Clark looked at the scene laughing discretely, how come this girl had fought without a second thought a terrifying Spirit and was scared of a little needle.

“If you move it will hurt and I will have to redo it. If you obey me, I promise to be gentle.”

“…Mmmmm…Okay… but I won’t watch!”

“You don’t need to…. There it’s done!”

“huh? Already!” Chariot opened her eyes in disbelief

“Yes, chicken!”

“oh… I did not feel anything…”

“Because I am the best!”

“Stop praising yourself, you’re annoying!”

“Ms Clark, may I show you my talents.”

“With pleasure, Ms Merridies, go ahead.”

Someone knocked at the door, and the nurse invited the student in. She had a message from the Headmistress asking to see every witness of the recent events.

“We’re on our way, I’m afraid you will have to wait your nurse assistant for a while.” Ms Clark said to the poor woman, thinking of the amount of visits awaiting her.

The trio walked through the corridors, now feeling united after such an adventure.


	6. Believe in your magic!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is the conclusion of that story.

Professor Holbrooke was standing in her office in the presence of Professors Nelson, Finnelan, O’Shaughnessy, and Clark; Chariot and Croix were the first ones to be heard by the teachers. They repeated what they had witnessed and faced in Arcturus Forest, trying to be as precise as possible. The sealed grimoire was laid on the Headmistress’ desk and she observed it intensely.

“I wonder how this damned thing got back here, it was supposed to have been sealed and buried in the Arcturus Forest decades ago. I wonder who dug it up.”

“We know that Dark Magic worshippers still exist; we should make an enquiry to find some.” Professor Nelson added.

“Do we know how the girls got it?” Professor Finnelan asked

“The girls we found in the Forest are members of the Occult Club, but they are absolutely not Dark Magic worshippers.” Ms Clark answered.

“How do you know? Some people seem harmless but hide a rotten personality.” Finnelan gazed at Croix, stretching her eyes.

“I know them, they are in my class. They were manipulated by the grimoire, obviously.” Croix took the defence of her classmates; she knew they were unable to hurt anybody voluntarily.

“Professor Finnelan, I think we might have found the place the girls bought the book. There is a suspicious shopkeeper downtown and he said that he received the visit of several students of ours. He insisted to sell us books. We took samples of dust and Ms Du Nord bought an item to be analysed.”

“That could be pure coincidence.” Ms O’Shaughnessy suggested.

“Maybe, but I think you should pay a visit to the shop…incognito. Ms Merridies and I will go to the lab right after this to analyse the items.”

“All right, then I will need to hear again all the students involved in this mystery. I am starting to have my own opinion on what happened here.” The headmistress said.

“I must tell you that I’ve visited Gretel Blume at the hospital and she is suffering from amnesia.” Ms Clark added.

“Are we sure of that? Isn’t she faking it?”Professor Finnelan asked.

“The doctor was formal; no doubt about it. Though, he said it should not be permanent.”

“Well, we shall see with the others then.”

Croix followed Ms Clark in the lab; she took advantage of her absence in the storage room to scan all the items they had collected. Chariot remained with them, she had been forbidden to touch anything since she was a walking disaster in a lab. Croix entrusted her the pocket scanner and asked her to go to her room and plug it to the computer. Chariot had observed her enough times to be able to achieve that mission. When Ms Clark came back, she was surprised not to see Chariot. Croix made up an excuse for her, saying she had gone to take a bath after all these events.

“We’re almost done here; it will take a few hours before we can see the results. You may go as well; I would not mind for a bath myself.”The teacher said tiredly.

“Fine, see you later then Ms Clark.”

“Croix….” The girl raised an eyebrow, that was the first time the teacher called her by her first name. “I… misjudged you and Ms Du Nord… I mean Chariot. I’m sorry.”

“After what we lived, I must say that I was glad to be with you. You are reassuring and a great witch.”

The teacher widened her eyes and her cheeks reddened a little. Croix was not the kind of student to pay compliments. 

In Croix’s bedroom, Chariot was struggling with the software; she could not recall how to launch the analysis. Just as she was bumping her head against the desk in despair, Croix entered the room.

“How’s it going?”

“Croix..” she whined “It’s too difficult.”

“Let me see, oh you just forgot one step, here …done. It should go fast now. How about a shower, I feel awful.”

“Yeah me too, I’ll grab another uniform in my room and come back soon.”

“You want to have it with me?”

“Of course! Wasn’t it an invitation?”

“Ye…yeah.” Croix pushed her glasses up on her nose and looked aside. “Let the Shiny Rod here, I will scan it as well.”

“Hey, don’t you try to steal it from me, you mad scientist!”

“I must confess that I was quite jealous when the Spirit chose you instead of me. I’ve been looking for it for ages, read tons of documents about it. I never thought I would find it that way.”

“Ahem, _I_ found it… well I mean, it was given to _me_.”

“Tssk, I know, don’t worry.”

“Come on, Take off your clothes. I will make you forget about it.”

“As if…”

Chariot pushed her lover against the wall and kissed her furiously, venturing her hand under her skirt; Croix moaned sheepishly.

“You were saying?” Chariot smirked.

“Just go take your clothes, hurry up.”

The girls were interrupted in their _game_ by the sound of the computer; it indicated that the analysis was completed.

“Chariot… Mmmm Stop…”

“Tsss, no way, I want to hear you surrender.”

“OK I surrender, let me check on the laptop.”

“Geez, you ruined the mood.”

“I’m sorry little horny girl, but we have to be fast. Let me go now.” Croix freed from Chariot’s loving arms and sat at her desk. “Look, it’s really slight, but there are residues of Dark magic on the dust and on your cards. They may not be cursed but they were in contact with someone who deals with Dark Magic. You cannot remove it all.”

“You mean, that creepy man?”

“Of course, who else? I hope the traditional analysis will lead to the same conclusion.”

“What will you do if it doesn’t?”

“I need to guide Clark, I don’t know how.”

“Tell her the truth, she is young; I bet she is not that traditionalist.”

“I know, but what if she confiscates my scanner and my laptop?”

“You will build another one; I even know a place where you could hide it.”

“Where?”

“The former donjon, the northern tower; nobody uses it anymore since it’s half in ruins.”

“Mmmm, I could maybe settle a secret lab there; with a specific spell to ban visitors that could work.”

“An you will also benefit of the protection of my teddy bear… Arcas.”

“Teddy bear?”

“In fact, it’s a polar bear, he’s adorable.”

“Are you talking about that monster that prevents the students to reach the Northern area?”

“Arcas is not a monster! Nobody tried to understand him. He is loveable once you know him.”

“I might have to find another hideout.”

“No, I will introduce you as my friend. Everything will be all right.”

“If you say so… for now, let’s meet Clark.”

The girls entered the lab, Ms Clark was scribbling notes on her notepad.

“Ah Croix, Chariot, perfect timing. Look at this. The dust reacted to the solution; there are traces of Dark Magic and it totally corresponds to the one on the grimoire.”

“I am not surprised. The grimoire came from that antique shop and that man is probably the one who wanted to spread it amongst us.”

“I will inform Professor Holbrooke, we have to stop him before he spreads more of his items everywhere.”

“Do you think the police will arrest him?”

“No, we need to use our network, that is to say The Ministry of Magic Security. They will take the investigation from there and arrest him if he effectively is guilty. We wanted to avoid implicating them but after what happened, there is no other choice.”

“Oh, I did not know such Ministry existed.” Chariot said

“Are you sleeping in class?” Croix exclaimed shocked “It’s common knowledge!”

“He he…” Chariot rubbed the back of her head bashfully and Ms Clark sighed, totally desperate by her student.

“I wonder why the spirit of Woodward chose you.” She mumbled

“See! Even Ms Clark agrees!” Croix claimed triumphant

“HEY! I thought this was settled!” Chariot had clenched her fists and was frowning to Croix; the latter could not help laughing.

“Calm down lovebirds; let’s show the results to the Headmistress.”

“Heeee?” the two could not believe their ears; had she just called them ‘lovebirds’ in the most casual way?

Professor Holbrooke took into consideration the trio’s discovery and immediately called the Ministry. The next day she received a call to update her on the situation. She then decided to gather all the students concerned and the staff in her office to tell them about the conclusion.

“My dear colleagues, my dear students, we have been through difficulties in the last days but I gladly can tell you that it’s over. I called the Ministry of Magic Security and they arrested a network of Dark Magic worshippers. It all started when you, Mary and Anna, bought a grimoire in the new antique store downtown. The seller, who was the head of the gang, claimed it to be a potion and ointment book of recipes, with very rare ones, but easy to make. You took it to the club room and lent it to some of your friends. You did not know that this was a cursed grimoire with the capacity to hypnotise its readers. It works mainly on young and inexperienced witches; any skilled one could feel the strong emanation of Dark Power. Using the recipes could liberate dark forces, either to get rid of the witches using them, either to use their bodies as vessels or to make them summon Dark spirits.”

“So I might have died because of that stupid ointment for my broom?”Maggie whined

“Yes my dear, you can thank both your friends here to have reacted just in time. What was that ointment made for initially?” The head asked

“The recipe book said it could help my broom to catch the wind and enhance its aero dynamism. Though, I have no memory of making it or using it.”

“That’s part of the curse, it hypnotises you and makes you act against your will.”

“Does it give hallucinations too? Because, I can recall seeing a monster in the Baths!” Amy added.

“It could but in your case you were tricked by the cream you used after bath. I guess it was made thanks to the grimoire.”

“Yes.”

“It penetrated your pores and its dark power was released in your cells. It sucked your magic energy to the point it could create an evil spirit, when it became strong enough it got separated from your body and took form. You lost consciousness but the last image you saw before that was the initial form of a Dark Spirit. It left through the bath pipes and strengthened in the basement. It was probably the one that released the gas that sedated us all.”

“What about Gretel Professor?” Chariot asked

“Ms Blume has partially recovered memory thanks to the good care of the doctors and the support of her family, she will come back soon. Her case is unclear. Professors Clark and Nelson found her on the top of the tower totally under a spell and it seemed that her body was creating the tempest and tornado some of you faced the other night. It’s only thanks to Ms Clark’s great capacities and to Professor Nelson’s support that the spirit got defeated; and once again thanks to Ms Merridies and Ms Du Nord temerity _ and disobedience that Gretel survived. About the cause, my guess is that it is linked to the explosion in the Occult Club room. Mary and Anna told me they were studying potions and making attempts on a new recipe they had found in a book. The thing is the book was not in the room after the explosion. I cannot see exactly when Gretel got in contact with it. I imagine she might have borrowed it from you while you were working, but she had it at one moment, that’s for sure.”

“As you said, Professor, We cannot remember making that potion, so if Gretel came at that moment, maybe we were already under the curse and she borrowed it.”

“I cannot tell. Your Potion failed, that’s for the best since that’s what saved you; even if you destroyed half of the room. I am glad your injuries were only superficial.”

“There is one thing I cannot understand: it’s how June and April got to the Arcturus Forest.” Croix wondered.

“Here again, they are members of the occult club. One of them is Gretel’s roommate. She found the grimoire and took it back to the club president, April Miller, she told me. They said they turned a few pages to see if they could find ideas to make a beauty cream and they cannot remember what happened after that. They probably were guided to the basement by the evil spirit and sent through the hidden leyline to the core of the forbidden forest.”

“But professor, There is another thing that is not clear. When we fought, I felt invaded by a sudden force; it was as if I could defeat anybody. Ms Clark told me it was the Spirit of Professor Woodward.”Chariot asked.

“Yes, you received the blessing of our late Professor Woodward, she entrusted you her precious Claiomh Solais. It had disappeared hundreds of years ago. I will talk to you later about your quest. Woodward is a spirit that protects Luna Nova and she put her faith in YOU Ms Chariot du Nord.”

“Coming back to the grimoire, what was that circle exactly?” Chariot asked again

“The dark spirit, with the help of April and June‘s chant, could get stronger and once it had found the climax of its power, would have spread through the leylines to invade the whole world. Woodward alone could not last long, she needed a knight to use the Claiomh Solais and defeat it.” Professor Holbrooke answered.

“You saved the world girls if you are still not aware of it.” Ms Clark added patting both their heads.

“HEEEEEEEE??????”

Chariot was asked to stay longer with Croix in the Headmistress’s office, Ms Clark remained as well. Professor Holbrooke explained in details the history of the Claiomh Solais and its functions. The girls then left with Ms Clark.

“Ms Clark, it’s a huge responsibility that has been confided in me. I am not sure I am ready for this.”

“Chariot, you will find the signification of each word at your own pace. This is something only you can accomplish.”

“And I will help you.”

“Croix, you might be helpful but at some points, it’s Chariot and only her that can find them, for the Claiomh Solais reacts to her heart and soul.”

“I will do my best Ms Clark…may I come and ask your help if I am stuck.”

“Chariot, my door will always be open for you, and this goes for you too Croix. We have faced hardship together; you protected me while it should have been my role to protect you. I will never thank you enough. You faced danger without blinking an eyelid. I am not sure you are really aware of what you accomplished. You are brave, maybe a bit reckless, but you impress me. You will always find me by your side to support you.”

“Ms Clark!” Chariot felt her eyes welling up and hug her teacher; Croix looked aside but suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder carrying her closer. The three of them remained a few seconds in that embrace before parting.

“Thank you Ms Clark, we are also grateful that you trust us and let us follow you in this adventure.” Said Croix in her usual formal tone.

“I still wonder how you could make all these assumptions without any external help… maybe one day you will show me your secret …devices.”

“Heeee?” Croix became white suddenly.

“I am not as old as my colleagues; I have knowledge in new technologies. I have no proof but I am sure you are well equipped Croix, especially if I refer to your previous studies.”

“Ahem…” Croix looked at her feet, red as a beet.

“I will not confiscate it from you; I do believe that technology can help us go faster. Of course this conversation never happened.”

“Yes! Thank you Ms Clark!”

“I’ll go back to the lab now, feel free to come and work here whenever you need.”

“I will, Thanks.”

Ms Clark left the girls, chuckling when she reminded Croix’s face once busted. _She really believed she could hide this from me, genius or not, she is still a teenager with her naïve side_. She thought.

Chariot and Croix were walking, holding hands down the alley, the same one where they met for the first time.

“Do you remember?”Chariot asked looking at a cherry tree.

“How could I forget, the most adorable clumsy girl falling down right at my feet…” Croix cupped her partner’s cheek in her palm, glanced furtively to make sure they were alone, and kissed her softly. A touch of slight pink coloured Chariot’s face; the delicate moisture on her lips making her heart flutter. They leaned on the tree sitting on the grass, Chariot put her head on Croix’s shoulder.

“I would like this to last forever.”

“Me too, I can’t believe I will graduate in a few months.”

“Oh?”

“What?”

“I had totally occulted that you would end your studies here.” A shade of gloom passed on the red haired girl face.

“Hey, don’t be sad. I made arrangements with the Head. I still need to study traditional Magic. The program does not go far enough for my aspiration. So I will go to the University to study Bioinformatics as planned but I will come back here to complete my research from Fridays afternoon to Sundays evening. Depending on the schedule, I might even take the morning train on Mondays.

“Really? Oh Croix! I’m so relieved! I could not imagine a Future without you around.”

“Don’t worry; I am not willing to leave you too long. And you will need my fabulous knowledge to unveil the secret of the shiny rod.”

“Here you are again praising yourself.”

“Of course, you cannot seem to understand how lucky you are to date such a prodigy!”

“Shut up, you brat!” Chariot gently punched her lover’s shoulder. “I know well enough that I am far behind you and will never reach your level.” Chariot sighed sheepishly.

“Hey! I was joking ok.”Croix raised the chin of her lover, feeling sorry for Chariot seemed really affected by their difference of skills.

“I know but, still, we are not in the same league.”

“You are doing a great job Chariot du Nord, and I will be beside you to help you improve your competences. You haven’t blown a lab in weeks now, you see…ouch!” Croix held her shoulder since she had received another punch.

“When we are together, I feel no fear. It’s as if we could overcome any obstacles.”

“We are going to change the world, together.”

“I want to fill the world with Magic and smiles. I want people to remember how Magic is essential to their lives.”

“Do you remember the conversation we had in the Baths before getting caught by Clark?” Chariot tilted her head inviting her to go further “I will find a device to enhance the power of the Sorcerer Stone. I have already an idea and made some sketches of it. Technology coupled with Magic is the Future, Imagine how far we can go with this combination.”

“The problem is that the power of the stone is slowly decreasing. Even technology cannot help it.”

“If people could see you when you perform your Illusion Magic, so many believing hearts would reinforce it in no time….!”

“How?”

“Chariot, you want to make people happy and believe in Magic again right?”

“Well, yes, that would be fantastic.”

“If I could carry the power of the stone, I mean a real storage, much more than the ridiculous amount our wands can bear, we could make that happen.”

“Again, how?”

“Just imagine a huge venue with a lot of people and you on stage. After seeing the show, all these people would have no other choice but to believe in Magic. All these people gathered would send Magic energy, I will develop a device that can store it and that energy could strengthen the power of the Stone.”

“Oh wow, do you think so?”

“Yes, but for that I will need to train in the secret lab you promised me. And you’d better tame that beast guarding it, I still don’t trust it.”

“Arcas will not eat you, I forbade him!”

“I do hope he’s obedient! Anyway, I will start gathering materials to build it. Will you go to London with me next weekend?”

“London?”

“And we can stay the night in Notting Hill, without anybody to bother us. One of my friends has a huge apartment there; she is studying abroad and left me the keys to use it whenever I want.”

“Oh Croix, that would be so…romantic!”

“Fu, fu,fu… collecting materials won’t take the whole weekend so I guess we can have some fun as well.”

“Darling! Yes! Now I feel like doing something naughty…”

“Let’s go to my room then, I’m in the mood for love too…” Croix kissed her girlfriend and helped her get up. Hand in hand they ran to the dorm, the head full of dreams, feeling ready to live plenty of new adventures.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this at different stages between 2018 and 2019. I did not intend to make a long story. It might be a bit clumsy since it was my first attempt writing fan fiction in English.


End file.
